| Hailing
from the historic Middle East this young band from Israel known
as AMASEFFER has released a sensational debut record entitled
Slaves For Life, a brimming record with an impact and volume
gently caressing the aural canals. With Mats Leven, Kobi Farhi
(Orphaned Land) and Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) AMASEFFER
have found excellent and not so unknown singers ;) Walking a thin
line between oriental Folk, Heavy Metal and symphonic Rock AMASEFFER
exactly know how to convince and deservedly made it to be our
album of the month in June next to Opeth’s Watershed. Reasons
enough to learn more about these friendly musicians and their
work…
Jochen:
Congratulations to your outstanding first record! It made it to
be album of the month on Nocturnal Hall :)
Erez: Thank you; it is a huge honor for us and to see that
our music touches people it's very inspiring!
Dajana:
And I still can’t believe that such matured and sophisticated
record comes as a debut from such a young band…
Erez: Well, it all came just naturally to us, we really did
our best in order to write the best music we can create and we
are very happy with the final result.
Jochen:
What about the response so far in Israel and are there already
first impressions from abroad available (as for the short time
the album is available now)?
Yuval: The response for the album in Israel so far is great
and we hope it will continue like that. It is a bit early though
to see the general overview but we hope that in time our album
will pick up more and more listeners. Soon we release the song
Zipporah as a radio edited single in Israel only so we
believe it will help us getting AMASEFFER more public.
Jochen:
Slaves For Live is a big production – which you have
succeeded excellently – did you have had difficulties in
implementation? Especially for a young band like you it must have
been a huge logistical challenge?
Erez: We have gone all the way, full guns blazing as far as
we concern regarding the whole production. We did not let anything
stand in our way so if we needed something, we went out and looked
for it until we found it so this as itself was a very challenging
task for. As you said, we are a new band and people don't know
us but our ideology really helped us getting what we wanted. We
knew that we needed our own studio for the pre-production and
recording in Israel so we went and hired a place in Tel-Aviv and
made it our studio which we spent six months living in it for
the whole pre-production stage. Markus Teske's (Bazement studio
in Germany) roll also should not be overlooked! He took the whole
thing and refined it to a killer production that we truly believed
this album deserved, so we owe him a huge gratitude for what he
did for us.
Dajana:
All these instruments and elements did you record them live or
are that programmed samples? If first one… how many people
were involved recording your debut and how long did it take?
Yuval: We have recorded some live and some programmed and
we mixed between the two, but most of the orchestrations are state
of the art programs (needed state of the art programming too)
which has cost us big amount of money and took a big bite out
of the album budget but we knew that it was vital for us so we
did it. Live orchestra cost so much and just could not afford
it. We hope that on the next album all orchestrations will be
recorded live. Regardless, all compositions for the album were
composed as it was written for a live orchestra so if comes the
day we will have them all on paper notes.
Dajana:
And how you got in touch to Mats Leven (oh I so love his voice)
and Angela Gossow to take over the vocal duties?
Hanan: When we parted ways with Andy Kuntz, we immediately
started looking for a replacement. We decided to record the album
in the meantime to try to keep up with the schedule so that after
the vocals will be done we'll just have to mix everything together.
We contacted few vocalists and some have contacted us, the ones
we thought suitable got the audition package (part from the song
"Slaves for Life" and the lyrics to it to record their
musical ideas on it) via mail. Erez contacted Mats through his
website and told him all about AMASEFFER and Mats really
like the vision so we've sent him the files. We went to Germany
to record the guitars, drums and mix the album. When we got back,
we've listened to the parts and Mats was the one. It was a great
experience working with Mats, a true professional.
We think that each album deserves the best we can give it; we
believe that Mats will sing on the entire trilogy and we know
that this is what he wants to do also, but you can never know.
It
was the same thing with Angela. We needed a killer growler for
the song Midian and her name came up immediately along with Opeth
singer Mike Akerfeldt, but at the end it was Angela who got this
roll and we are very happy for that. She recorded at her own studio
and sent us the files for upload on to the album.
Jochen:
The exodus is a monumental issue. Are you more historically interested
on the theme or do you think first for an analogy to the present?
Yuval: It is historically period. We don't like political
issues to get involved with our music, it is art for us and once
you get political, you then lose you train of thought and this
is something we don't want to happen. We are making music for
purest reasons and not trying to send a political message.
Jochen:
Slaves For Live is announced to be the first part of a
large-scale trilogy. What are your plans for the following two
parts? Is there anything in development by now? Can you already
reveal some details?
Erez: The whole trilogy was written as one piece. The other
two parts are written but not produced. We have the structure
for each song but it still needs to be finalized and polished.
Soon we set the dates for the pre-production stages and we hope
that by middle of next year (2009) we will fly to Germany to record
it and hope to release it not long after.
Dajana: Oh please let us know then for a possible studio
report, I’d love to be a fly on the wall ;)
Erez: We can reveal the basic structures for next two albums:
Chapter Two we pick up the story right where we have left it on
Chapter One so it will begin in the actual Exodus of the Israelites
from Egypt. It will end right before Moses is meeting yet again
with God to except the Ten Commandments.
Chapter Three will start with the acceptance of the Ten Commandments
and will end with Death of Moses and the entrance of the Israelites
to the Promised Land.
Jochen:
Your music is full of versatile styles, elements and directions;
could you tell me your closest reference points to other bands,
musicians and musical styles?
Yuval: The closest reference and influence for us is our soul!
We listen to a lot of music, all kinds, from classical to jazz
and from ethnic to metal, but when we write our music, we disconnect
ourselves from any influences and we look deep into our soul.
We try to write the purest music we can and to do what ever serves
the music best.
Jochen:
Is there any connection to Andy Kurtz or have you broken up with
him (concerning cooperation in the future).
Erez: The Connection to Andy is still very strong, we really
love him, he is a true friend of ours and we know that we will
work together someday.
Unique person and it's an honor for us to call him our friend
and we hope for a future collaboration with him.
Jochen:
Israel is for German, probably even European, "average"
music listeners a rather unknown quantity. Perhaps names like
Aviv Geffen, Orphaned Land, Ofra Haza, Trespass are known to the
fans of Rock, and a few people remember still the short career
of Dana International. Older listeners of popular music get glowing
eyes by hearing the names of Esther and Abi Ofarim or Daliah Lavi.
What is the (current) Israeli musical scene about and could it
be characterized by diversity?
Hanan: The Israeli music scene is very rich. A lot of great
musicians live here and you can hear it in every genre. Itzhak
Perlman the great violinist, Zubin Mehta the Conductor, Infected
Mushroom in the Electronic music , Avishay Cohen in Jazz, Aviv
Geffen, that you've mentioned, in rock and of course the Metal
scene that has a huge amount of very talented musicians. Israel
is a home for many cultures and this is why the Israeli music
is so versatile.
Dajana:
Oh, I get some other Israeli bands in mind ;) Like Salem, Betzefer,
Arallu, Desert, Abrahms Family … just to name a few ;) You
are more Metal or Rock orientated?
Yuval: We are not into categorizing our music in terms of
genres. All those bands you have mentioned are focusing on one
musicale aspect and it is not the case with AMASEFFER.
We are not seating down on writing session and saying: "Ok
let's write a great METAL song or PROGRESSIVE METAL arrangements",
On the contrary, we do what ever we can do in order to block all
kind of genres influences when we compose our music... There a
many bands hear in Israel that we are sure you'll hear about them
soon.
Because of or diversity we have to say we are more music oriented,
we try to be honest, to be original and to keep on evolving and
surprising ourselves.
Jochen:
Are there any plans for a live performance of Slaves For Live?
And if so – will there be any shows in Germany?
Erez: Yes sure but only when the trilogy will be done we will
play it live. It's too soon to start and think on locations so
it’s hard to know for now. We are concentrating on our next
album and when the time will come, you'll know everything you
have to know. It is a decision made long before we even recorded
the album. The story is above all financial or promotional calculations,
we don't want to present third or a part of the story on stage,
it is vital for us to present the whole trilogy on stage on one
night, three hours avant-garde show and Like everything we do
it will be big and unique.
Dajana:
Why don’t you play Anthem Metal Festival?
Erez: See the above answer! :)
Dajana: But I’ll be there :) At least it looks great
so far *keeping all fingers crossed*
Jochen:
Could you tell me something to your work as soundtrack artists
on „Altalena“ and what’s the movie about?
Hanan: We have a production company that writes music for
movies and video games called "Amaseffer soundtrack Productions"
and we are working on a few things right know, so we hope that
soon we will announce some of them.
The
movie "Altalena" deals with a very sensitive event that
occurred in 1948, right after Israel got its independence and
was still fighting for it on all of our borders. A boat carrying
900 refugees from Europe and weapons that the Israeli defense
groups bought (before the declaration of independence) was sent
to Israel – During its way here an agreement was signed
between the new Israeli government and the Arabs, that forbad
bringing weapons. The Israeli army needed to ensure that the agreement
will be fulfilled, and ordered the boat to stay in the sea. The
crew on the sheep didn't know on the agreement, they were in bad
condition and wanted to get to Israel so they tried to get to
the shore despite the army's orders. After a failing negotiations
on the shallow waters in the shore of Tel-Aviv, the boat was bombed
and sunk by the Israeli army. 19 people were killed. This event
is one of the darkest moments in Israel's short history.
The
music was written to support the message of the movie, no guitars
and drums were used, the music needed to fit the dates in the
movie so we have used only Philharmonic orchestrations and choirs.
We hope you'll get to see it. When the movie will be released,
a trailer will be available on our website soon.
Jochen:
Thank you for the interview, all the best and much of success
you truly deserve!
Thank you both for your support and we and thank you for this
opportunity you gave us to present our visions on your web site,
thank you.
KEEP IT HOLY
Amaseffer |
